The city of South Bend is back
And why we need to be a part of it
Last week, Mayor Pete Buttigieg hosted his fifth State of the City address to a crowded auditorium at Indiana University – South Bend.
He said: “This evening, we stand at the midpoint of a decade that I think will go down in history as the most transformative period for the City of South Bend in modern times.”
Buttigieg has just begun his second term as mayor of South Bend, and he’s already got a litany of tangible achievements to point to. Unemployment in South Bend fell by 30 percent in 2015. Construction investment totals are just shy of $180 million. The mayor’s “1000 Homes in 1000 Days” plan deconstructed or repaired 1,122 abandoned and derelict properties on schedule.
Most promising of all, South Bend’s population growth was the highest in 2015 that it’s been in 20 years. Things are looking up for the city that we’ve been taught to fear, but we’ve got a long ways to go before our campus culture reflects that change.
As we enter the second half of this decade, Notre Dame students can’t be content with their gilded bubble any longer. We can’t allow our only contact with the city of South Bend to be a hazy acquaintance with its bars and clubs on the weekends. South Bend has a lot to offer, and until we take ownership of it as our city, South Bend’s comeback won’t be as incredible as it can be.
Notre Dame has always done a good job with community outreach. We send Notre Dame students to South Bend schools and community centers; mentoring and tutoring programs are incredibly popular. Days of service like “Back the Bend,” and the philanthropy of individual dorms are so important and so vital for the flourishing of South Bend, and should not be belittled.
But these measures alone are not enough.
It is not enough to treat South Bend as nothing but a blighted community, convenient only for resumé-building volunteering opportunities. It is not enough to give South Bend our pity, but to withhold our compassion, to reject our association with it. We need to believe that we are better because we go to school here, not despite the fact that Notre Dame is located where it is.
The city’s revitalization efforts are bigger and better than ever, but we need to meet it halfway.
Smart city planning is slowly but surely taking effect in the downtown area; this summer, residents will see plans to convert inefficient one-way streets into two-way avenues that will encourage economic growth. Free Wifi will soon be available anywhere in the downtown area. The South Bend police are introducing new initiatives to make our city safer than ever. However, it’s on us to take advantage of everything the city has to offer, by seeing it as a viable place to live, work, and have fun.
ND Student Government can help by continuing to bring South Bend businesses to campus so that they can engage with the students and build a sense of cooperation and connection. The academic departments can help by encouraging students to seek internships and part-time jobs in the city. Students can help by expressing interest in initiatives and plans that connect our campus with the city rather than isolating it.
South Bend is an exciting place to be a young, driven person, and I’m positive that our student body wants to be a part of this historic comeback story. Let’s turn our gaze outward.
Let’s accept South Bend as our home.